238 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



ting and singing, living hard by the white fields of snow. 

 Still farther up the hollow Wilson's warblers were trill- 

 ing blithely, proclaiming themselves yet more venture- 

 some than their gorgeous cousins, the Audubons. 

 There is reason for this difference, for Wilson's warblers 

 nest in willows and other bushes which thrive on higher 

 ground and nearer the snowy zone than do the pines to 

 which Audubon's warblers are especially attached. At 

 all events, Sylvania pusilla was one of the two species 

 which accompanied us all the way from Georgetown to 

 the foot of Gray's Peak, giving us a kind of " person- 

 ally conducted " journey. 



Our other brave escorts were the white-crowned spar- 

 rows, which pursued the narrowing valleys until they 

 were merged into the snowy gorges that rive the sides 

 of the towering twin peaks. In the arctic gulches the 

 scrubby copses came to an end, and therefore the white- 

 crowns ascended no higher, for they are, in a pre-eminent 

 sense, " birds of the bush." Subsequently I found them 

 as far up the sides of Mount Kelso as the thickets ex- 

 tended, which was hundreds of feet higher than the 

 snow-bound gorges just mentioned, for Kelso receives 

 more sunshine than his taller companions, particularly 

 on his eastern side. Brave birds are these handsome 

 and musical sparrows. It was interesting to see them 

 hopping about on the snow-fields, picking up dainties 

 from the white crystals. How lyrical they were in this 



